Canada, Connecticut Independently Legalize MMA

Mixed martial arts took another step toward global acceptance on
Wednesday when legislators in Canada and the state of Connecticut
independently legalized the sport.

The Connecticut MMA bill was initially passed by the state’s House
of Representatives last month and was subsequently referred to the
Senate, where it passed today by a vote of 26-9, according to a
report from the Connecticut Post. The bill will now be sent to Gov.
Dannel Malloy for final approval.

The vote leaves just one U.S. state in which MMA is still illegal:
New York. Today’s result means that Connecticut venues such as the
Webster Bank Arena in Bridgeport and Hartford’s XL Center can now
play host to major MMA players like the UFC and Bellator. MMA bouts
in Connecticut have previously only been held at Native American
casinos like Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun.

North of the border, the Canadian House of Commons passed a bill to
legalize combat sports including karate, taekwondo and MMA across
the entire country in a landslide vote of 267-9. The Canadian
Criminal Code previously considered boxing the only acceptable form
of prizefighting, a consequence of the passage’s wording, which was
last updated in 1934. Despite the narrow wording in the Criminal
Code, several Canadian provinces have already regulated MMA under
local authority, including British Columbia, Ontario, Quebec and
Nova Scotia.

The UFC will make its first trip to Manitoba on June 15, when UFC
161 goes down from the MTS Centre in Winnipeg. That bill is
headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between Dan
Henderson and Rashad
Evans and will also see Roy Nelson
collide with Stipe
Miocic in a heavyweight co-headliner. The UFC has visited
Canada 12 times over the last five years, holding six shows in
Montreal.